


Hidden Faces

by Jen425



Series: For The Republic [10]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anakin Skywalker Needs a Hug, Anakin isn't doing well here people, Force exhaustion, Gen, Hardeen arc, Human Disaster Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan is trying, Past Mind Rape, Poor Anakin, but he tried hard in Canon too, fighting with Dooku and Magna gaurds is the last thing Anakin needs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-26
Updated: 2018-01-26
Packaged: 2019-03-09 15:45:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13484688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jen425/pseuds/Jen425
Summary: Whatever Obi-Wan had expected when he finally revealed himself to Anakin, this wasn’t it. He looks nearly as bad as he had been when Obi-Wan had rescued him almost four weeks ago. He’s still not entirely sure why he agreed to this mission, nor why he had agreed to use Anakin’s reaction to sell his death. Before, he knew, he would have fought to keep up the illusion for as long as possible, but now…Well, he was just glad that his funeral was over, and he could tell Anakin.Because Anakin looked more dead than he himself did.





	Hidden Faces

**Author's Note:**

> Just in case anyone stumbles onto this without having read the entire series, I suggest that you do. Otherwise, some of this may be confusing.

Whatever Obi-Wan had expected when he finally revealed himself to Anakin, this wasn’t it. He looks nearly as bad as he had been when Obi-Wan had rescued him almost four weeks ago. He’s still not entirely sure why he agreed to this mission, nor why he had agreed to use Anakin’s reaction to sell his death. _Before_ , he knew, he would have fought to keep up the illusion for as long as possible, but _now…_

 

Well, he was just glad that his funeral was over, and he could tell Anakin.

 

Because Anakin looked more dead than he himself did.

 

“...Obi-Wan?” he asks, shaky and almost _broken_ . It’s like all of the strength that he’d been regaining at an unbelievable rate since that first horrible day after he’d awakened was just… _gone_.

 

And then he reopens the bond, and almost stumbles back at the sheer self-hatred and _grief_ that Anakin must have been feeling for a week, now, the bond completely unstoppered due to Anakin’s belief that there was nobody to see it on the other side.

 

“Anakin…” Obi-Wan says softly, and Anakin clamps down on his side of the bond and pulls Obi-Wan into a hug all at once.

 

 _“You weren’t supposed to die, yet,”_ he says in the bond, flashing images of an old, graying face that Obi-Wan could somehow recognize as himself, _“I thought that I’d killed you, that you were dead because of me.”_

 

Obi-Wan freezes, for a moment, then returns the hug.

 

(Anakin isn’t crying, which means that he probably already had, and it hurts deep inside to know that Anakin had probably broken down alone, in their shared room at the Temple.)

 

“No, Anakin,” he says out loud before adding his full response in in the bond, _“I’m not going to die because of you, in any way. Those memories are from another life, Anakin, and I happen plan to live a long, happy life_ by your side _in this timeline, dear one.”_

 

 _“Then why didn’t you_ tell me _?”_ Anakin asks. Obi-Wan sighs, pulling back.

 

 _“I wanted to, Anakin,”_ he says, _“But the Council needed your reaction to sell my death, and… I knew how much more authentic you would be if you didn’t know…”_ he sighs again, _“I’m_ so _sorry, dear one. If I’d known how much this would hurt you than I never would have agreed to this.”_

 

Anakin just… laughs, hysterically, the sound made all the more disturbing by the large bags under his eyes and the still-pale skin from his months in captivity.

 

 _“I_ want _to be mad at you, Obi-Wan,”_ he says, _“And,_ yes _, I am, but… one thing that I’ve learned from the memories that I regained is how to forgive, so…”_ Anakin smirks, a near-perfect replica of his unusual cocky grin, and Obi-Wan knows that would likely fool most of the Galaxy, but…

 

It had never work on him.

 

“Don’t worry, Master,” Anakin says aloud, “I know how I’d react in a situation like this.”

 

(There’s a double meaning, there, but Obi-Wan doesn’t dare ask in front of Yoda and Mace. He files it away for a later date.)

 

“That is all that we can hope.”

  
  


“Hello, Anakin,” the Chancellor says, “How are you?”

 

Anakin walks calmly into the room, but (lets) the anger and sadness that still echoes around in his brain (despite the fact that Obi-Wan isn’t really dead to) slip through his shields.

 

“I’m doing... fine,” he says, but it’s said hesitantly, like it isn’t the truth. (And it isn’t, a quiet voice inside of him thinks. He decides to ignores it.) Palpatine smiles ( _lies!_ ) and nods to the chair on the other side of his desk.

 

“Come, my boy,” he says, “Sit.”

 

Anakin smiles, knowing that it probably seems fake, (but letting a bit more of his turbulent emotions free to compensate, to make the smile look like grief) as he sits down.

 

(One of the good things about having even his most rudimentary shields stripped away is that it had allowed him to rebuild each and everyone into the complex shields that he’d learned as a senior Padawan, or even a Knight, allowing more control than he had even thought possible.)

 

“Thank you,” he says.

 

“You’re very welcome, my boy. Now, I take it that you won’t be leaving with your ship tomorrow?”

 

Anakin shakes his head. (Palpa- _Sidious_ should already know these things. In fact, it was almost funny just how obvious the Sith was being. In fact, Sidious probably did find it hilarious.

 

Well, he’ll be the one laughing at the end of this, so...)

 

“No, the Council is assigning myself and Ahsoka to your security team for the Festival of Lights. We meet back with the 501st afterwards on-”

 

Anakin is cut off by the beeping of Palpatine’s comm. As usual for these kinds of calls, Anakin removes his hand from where it rests on the table so as not appear on the other side of the holo. Also as usual, he doesn’t leave the room. (How had he not seen how inapropriate and illegal that was, Before?)

 

A holo of Winu appears.

 

“Hello, Chancellor,” he says, bowing his head in a show of respect. (They were all _blind_.)

 

Palpatine smiles his political smile, different than the one he had Anakin. (Fake kindness mixed with a hunger that on anyone else would have made Anakin worry about very different things. How in the _Galaxy_ had he fallen for it for so long?)

 

“Ah, Master Windu. Any news about the location of Hardeen and the other escapees?”

 

(It was an obvious attempt to put the focus in Anakin’s mind to the believed murder of his Master, but it half-worked, sending Anakin into a spiral worry about what could have changed from between when he had left the Temple and now. Was Obi-Wan caught? Were they going to tell Sidious? What were they calling for?)

 

“Actually, the Council has just removed the bounty on them.”

 

Anakin resists the urge to growl. How could they just let his Master’s killer escape? (Internally, however, Anakin just sighs, equally amused and nervous by whatever Obi-Wan had done to require this, because he knew that his Master was responsible for this change of plans.)

 

Palpatine merely looks confused.

 

(He was much less obvious when he wasn’t alone with Anakin, but that was no excuse. How was every _single_ sentient so completely and utterly _stupid_?)

 

“And why are you removing the bounty on the three fugitives?” he asks.

 

“If they are free to move, then they could lead us back to Evalo’s operations,” Windu explains. Palpatine nods, his political smile back in place.

 

“Very well,” he says, “keep me apprised.”

 

He turns the comm off, turning back to Anakin.

 

“You look troubled, Anakin,” he says. (And he says it in a way that is almost forcing his way into Anakin’s brooding and worry (which he hadn’t even realized that he was doing) where he once would have slid in naturally. Despite the fact that he had seen Sidious multiple times since he’d learned the truth, it still amazes him just how blind he had been and disgusts him what he had allowed the Chancellor to do.) Anakin shakes his head slowly.

 

“They sit back and do _nothing_ as Obi-Wan’s murderer runs amok with the man that’s planning to _kill_ you!” he says angrily, standing up and turning to stare out the window. His face has always been the thing to give away his true emotions, and he can’t risk that.

 

“Don’t you want to go after your Master’s killer yourself?” Palpatine asks, and Anakin shakes his head again.

 

“No,” he says, “I won’t be able to stop myself from killing Hardeen twice.”

 

(And the terrifying part of that is that, if he’d not been told the truth, he doesn’t even know if he could have stopped himself _once_ . If he’d see Obi-Wan in his disguise and just… _lose it_.

 

And that terrifies him.)

  
  
  


“We will leave as soon as Queen Neeyutnee’s banquet is over,” Palpatine says as they walk down the hall, “I also want to say goodbye to Senator Amidala. She has been a very gracious host.”

 

Anakin huffs.

 

“Padme didn’t mention a banquet to me,” he says. (He wonders if he’s walking into a trap.)

 

Palpatine merely smiles.

 

“Perhaps she meant it as a surprise,” he says, laughing, “I must say, the lengths the Jedi will go to is nothing short of incredible. I assume the brilliant plan to disguise Obi-Wan Kenobi was _yours_?”

 

Anakin shook his head (forcing himself to push away the waves of grief and betrayal that Sidious’s words had filled him with).

 

“No,” he says, “It wasn’t, sir. I was in the dark for some time.”

 

(Four days, but it had still felt like a gaping wound. He remembers lying in bed and not sleeping a wink, scrabbling desperately at a bond that he couldn’t even feel an other side of.)

 

Palpatine hmmed.

 

“Interesting. I was under the impression that Jedi always worked as a _team_.”

 

(They did, but he’d always been an outsider, to the Council. It wouldn’t have even hurt that much if Obi-Wan hadn’t been compliant.

 

Still, he _had_ been told.)

 

Anakin had been so lost in thought that it takes him a moment to process just who was sitting at the table.

 

“Welcome,” says Count Yan Dooku.

 

(Anakin) ((panics,)) (((pulling))) ((((up)))) (((((every))))) ((((((shield)))))) (((((((that))))))) ((((((((he)))))))) (((((((((has. Then, suddenly, he hears the sound of electrostaffs, and they nearly drown out Sidious’ fake cry, pounding in his ears.

 

“It’s a trap!” Sidious cries, looking sick, and… oh, his shields are going so strong that they must be projecting a negative Forcefield around him, and it takes actual power to hold those. That doesn’t matter, all that matters is that the sound of electrostaffs are drowning out everything, even his own thoughts.

 

“Chancellor, stay back!” he says, pushing Sidious away and half-believing that Sidious really is just the Chancellor, as clouded as his mind is. One of the guards gets his shoulder, and his cry is so much louder than it should be as past melds with present. He forces himself back up, the electricity rolling off of his too-high pain tolerance as he ignores the minutes twitches of his mechanical hand.

 

The guards make no further movement, so he turns back to Dooku, spitting his tormentor’s name like the curse it is.

 

Dooku only shakes his head, smiling like he knows a joke that Anakin isn’t privy to.

 

“Fighting off the entire Jedi security force would have been a challenge,” he says, standing up, “But, now that they are gone…”

 

Dooku trails off, lighting his blade, and Anakin has to force himself not to cower from it like an animal. That blade had rarely even touched him!

 

“...defeating you alone will be an easy task.”

 

The Magna Guards come closer, and Anakin lights his saber, barely blocking their attacks. At some point, he tells Sidious to run, and the secret Sith doesn’t hesitate. Another guard tries to stop him, and Anakin cuts it’s head off.

 

The fight is over in minutes, but it should have been over in seconds.

 

And, lost in this haze, Anakin runs at Dooku. He’s fighting on pure instinct, and he _knows_ that, but the negative Forcefield sets the older man just enough off of his game to even it out.

 

It also helped that Dooku was playing with him. The fight continues, into and down the hallway, and Anakin doesn’t even care that every step he takes forwards is him giving ground.

 

Then, eventually, Dooku _does_ start fighting properly, and Anakin finds himself being pushed back. Dooku pushes him even further back with Sith Lightning, and Anakin finds that somehow ten times worse than the blade because this he _remembers_. Like everything in this fight, however, he barely manages to keep himself from dying as he cushions his own descent. It still hurts, but it’s certainly not deadly.

 

And that’s when Obi-Wan finds him.

 

“Anakin!” He calls, “Are you okay?”

 

Anakin forces himself up onto semi-unsteady legs.

 

“Yeah,” he says, “Dooku.”

 

And then he runs off again, Obi-Wan at his heels.

 

Dooku escapes, and,))))))))) ((((((((with that,)))))))) (((((((the last))))))) ((((((of his)))))) (((((strength))))) ((((leaves)))) (((him.))) ((He)) (collapses) onto the ground of the landing platform, completely spent. Obi-Wan settles near him, reaching out through neither the Force nor his body, as if afraid that even the lightest touch might set him off (and, most likely, he’s right).

 

“ _Anakin…_ ” Obi-Wan says sadly, but Anakin just shakes his head.

 

“Not now, Obi-Wan.”

 

And together, in silence, they gaze up at the stars.

  
  


The next morning, Anakin has to leave, joining his men wherever they may be needed. Tonight, however, he has Padme in his arms.

 

“Must you leave?” she asks him, “I can see it in your eyes that you are not well, Ani.”

 

Anakin just smiles, the one that he knows only comes to his face when he’s here, with his wife.

 

“I have to,” he says, “And I promise you, Angel, that I’ll return to you.”

 

Padme sighs.

 

“I know, Ani,” she says, “But things are so much worse than you believe. I just wish that I could tell you everything.”

 

Anakin feels a real laugh bubble up from his throat.

 

(She has no idea.)

 

“I’m not worried,” he says, “I trust you.”

 

Padmé looks up at him, then, half scathing and half begging. She lifts her hand to rub along the new scar on his cheek.

 

“Even after what I’ve done to you?”

 

And Anakin doesn’t hesitate for a moment as he answers.

 

“Of course. As many times as I have to say it, of course.”

**Author's Note:**

> You'll notice that this doesn't actually diverge much from Canon... that's kinda the point. Every predetermined piece of the puzzle that Sidious has spun will run regardless of Anakin Skywalker. It takes a surprising group of people to change it (but that's for later).
> 
> Also, Obi-Wan really is incredibly blind in this. He keeps hoping for the impossible, for Anakin to be okay again, and quickly, but... that's just not possible. Anakin has never been okay, not since he was a very small child, (his first memory is from when he was two-ish, and it's the first time that he ever watched a slave chip detonate) and now, well...
> 
> There is no person on this earth that could truly understand even a fraction of what Anakin is going through, because there is no one here who has ever felt their mind ripped apart and dug through.
> 
> But, even in SW, there are very few people that truly understand.
> 
> find me on tumblr [@flaim-ita](https://flaim-ita.tumblr.com/)


End file.
